


The Artista and The Smuggler

by meridian_rose (meridianrose)



Category: Da Vinci's Demons, Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships, Leonardo is still famous in the future, Mal has a thing for stray geniuses, River has probably met The Doctor, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 09:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2646893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/pseuds/meridian_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Fall 2014 into a bar challenge. Leonardo Da Vinci goes into a bar and meets Malcolm Reynolds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Leo blinked, raising his head from the table. Where was he? What the hell had he been drinking to hallucinate like this? Unless it wasn't a hallucination but another one of those mystical vision journey things. He was really starting to hate those. They left him off-kilter afterwards, with gaps in his memory, and vague hints about a future he worried he was powerless to alter.

He bit at his lip. That hurt, so he decided that, for the moment, this was reality. Though not one he was accustomed to. The tavern looked…odd. Instead of wooden tables and sawdust on the floor, dimly lit by candles and the light of the fire, there was metal and whatever the hell this table was made of. Leo knocked at it, puzzled. Neither wood nor metal. The lights above him were strips of white light bright as the sun.

He got to his feet, running his hands over his coat and boots. Still wearing his own clothes, knife in his boot, good, good, focus on the familiar. His head was spinning but not hurting. Maybe he just needed some air.

Leo took a step backwards, bumping into someone. The stranger took his elbow, steadying him.

"Woah, there," the man said, but good naturedly. Not about to punch him, which good, because Leo was confused enough without a blow to the head.

"Sorry," Leo said, trying to place the man's accent, and then somehow realising that while he understood both the stranger's words and his own, neither of them were speaking Italian. Some sort of side effect of the visionary journey he thought this was? His mind reeled.

"You all right?" It seemed Leo was in luck. Rather than react as if he were a drunk, this man was showing concern. Leo assessed him; tall, handsome, with a long brown coat over a burgundy shirt and beige trousers. He had a certain look about him; lawman or soldier, or maybe bandit or mercenary, Leo decided. The lines between which side of the law you were on were blurry as he knew, and drawn by those in power. He thought of Lorenzo and Riario, rivals over who and what was right, and then about Zo and Nico and Vanessa, feeling a pang of homesickness.

"I don't know how I got here," Leo explained. Nor how he was going to get back.

"What's your name?" the man asked, the way one might ask a lost child, but Leo took no offence since that was how he felt.

"Leonardo. My friends call me Leo."

The man gave him a smile and offered his hand. "Mal Reynolds. So, what's the last thing you do remember?"

"I was at the tavern." He'd been drawing and Zo had got bored and wandered off, and Nico was out buying more supplies for him, while Vanessa was serving at the bar. He'd finished his ale and planned to order another when he could catch Vanessa's eye. The fire was warm and he'd closed his eyes, just for a moment. He closed them now, but when he opened them, he was still in the strange place. Tables and a bar, which made him think it, too, was a tavern, but it was strange and…

The blood drained from Leo's face as, for the first time, he saw the window. He moved toward to it as if in a trance and stared out. There was no sign of anything but darkness and distant stars.

"Is…is that space?" His voice sounded high and far away. He felt Mal move him to a chair and sat down gratefully. Mal snapped his fingers, spoke in a foreign tongue. A moment later a woman brought two glasses over and Mal pushed one towards Leo.

"Drink up," he said. "It'll settle your nerves."

The liquor burned, but Leo was glad of the pain. It took the edge off the mix of fascination and terror he was experiencing.

"Yes," Mal said at last. "That's space. I take it you were planetside last thing you recall."

"Planetside," Leo repeated. "You mean, on a planet? On Earth? Where else would I be?" Where else could he be? Where was he now?

Mal frowned, sipping his own drink. "Earth-That-Was? I didn't think anyone lived there now. You're a long way from home, Leo."

Leo shook his head. Ideas buzzed at him like flies and he needed to concentrate. "Earth-That-Is," he said defiantly. He stared at the window. "We're really out in space? My God…I knew we could fly, I knew it! But we're truly not on Earth?"

Mal got them more drinks. "I'm thinking you've had a sheltered upbringing," he said carefully. "No, I'm thinking maybe you got kidnapped, though I can't imagine why, and I see no sign of your kidnapper. Or maybe you've had some kind of injury and you've lost your memories."

Or maybe he was mad was what Mal didn't say. Leo saw the obvious thought cross Mal's face, but he didn't care. He was used to people thinking him mad. It was the curse of being a genius. You didn't see things the way others did.

"I was born in Italy in the 15th century," Leo said, adding, for Mal's benefit, "Or that's what I believe."

Mal nodded, grasping at the proffered explanation, to mutual relief. "Could be implanted memories. I've heard of that. Nasty tech, experimental, used a bit during the war. Wipe out someone's personality, give them a new one. Supposed to be good for making spies, not that it worked well by all accounts." He scratched at his chin. "And this personality doesn't seem useful for spying."

"You might be surprised." Leo took out his notebook from his inside pocket and let Mal handle it. He watched the man flick through the pages.

"What is all this?"

"Ideas, designs, sketches, inventions. Things I've seen, things I've imagined." Leo's fingers drummed against the table, eager for something to do. "May I?" He found a pencil in another pocket and began sketching Mal on one of the blank pages.

"You're an artist?" Mal asked, watching in fascination as his portrait took shape.

"Yes. What about you?"

"Captain of a transport vessel."

Leo rubbed a thumb across the drawing, smudging some of the harsh lines into something softer and more flattering. "You have a ship."

"A spaceship," Mal said solemnly. "Me and my crew take cargo and passengers to and fro across the 'verse."

From planet to planet. Leo could barely grasp the notion. "Where are we now?"

"This is a space station." Mal met Leonardo's astonished gaze. "Place for loading and unloading, ship repairs, get some food and drink."

So he was in a tavern of sorts, which was located within a sort of docklands, Leo reasoned. That he could understand. He also got the sense, though he couldn't say why, that Mal's cargo wasn't all of the legal variety. It made him like the captain more.

"What do you think?" He showed Mal the finished drawing.

"Pretty good," Mal said, impressed.

"Earth-That-Was," Leo said, trying not to let panic colour his voice at the thought that he was surely in a future where his home didn't exist. "What happened to it?"

Mal shrugged. "Natural disasters, maybe. Wars. Pollution. Mostly overpopulation, I think, which made the pollution worse, used up the resources. We headed for the stars, for new worlds. There's a whole 'verse out here. Some of it better than others, but ain't that always the way?"

"You destroyed the Earth?" Leo demanded, outraged.

"Not me personally," Mal retorted.

Leo fought the overwhelming urge to learn about the pollution so he could come up with ways to solve it and protect his planet from ending up as somewhere referred to in the past tense. What he needed was to go home, and when he did, maybe he'd write something about the importance of looking after the Earth. He wanted to make progress, he wanted to fly, but not at such a cost.

A terrible thought occurred to him. What if Mal was right and he was just a spy, that the life he thought he knew was some fiction implanted into his brain? That his father and Andreas were figments of his imagination, part of a childhood that had never existed? He fought nausea.

"I have to get back home."

Mal put a hand on his shoulder. "Let me take you to my ship," he said. "I've got a doctor onboard. He might be able to help you." He didn't have to say that Leo looked as sick as he felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a short sequence using dialogue lifted directly from "Firefly", "Serenity", and "Da Vinci's Demons"

Leo stared at everything and everyone, anxious to take in as much detail as possible. Clothing was different and yet not overly so: trousers and shirts and skirts and dresses, matched with boots and shoes and coats and jackets. Hair was long and short and occasionally bizarrely coloured, but Leo had seen more outrageous parties in Florence.

It was the station that kept drawing his attention, the vastness of this man made structure. He'd been inside cathedrals of course, and castles, but this…the place was huge, and it was floating in space. The amazement made him forget his distress at being stranded here.

"Gravity," he said abruptly, as Mal tugged him out of the way of someone pushing a trolley. Instead of wheels the trolley floated in the air." There's gravity here in the space station but that trolley is defying it."

"Be mighty uncomfortable to go without gravity," Mal said. "But it sure can be useful to turn it off sometimes."

They passed a whole row of metal ships, Leo's heart soaring at the thought that these vessels sailed the stars. Mal pointed to his ship, _Serenity_ , with pride in his face and Leo breathed, "She's beautiful." Mal beamed like a proud father.

"Zoë." Mal waved. "How we doing?"

The woman nodded to the captain. "Almost loaded, sir." Zoë lifted a crate, taking it inside the ship.

" _Serenity_ ," Leo said, reaching out to press his fingertips to the metal hull. "That's a lovely name."

Mal lifted one shoulder and Leo sensed there was a tale behind the name that belied the gentle moniker. He didn't press the matter.

A young woman came down the ramp, boots sounding against the metal. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Leo.

"What are you doing? What is the polymath doing here?"

Mal gestured. "Leo, River; River, Leo. I found him in a tavern. I think his memory has been messed with. And you know how I am about taking in strays." He gave a sly smile that she was clearly supposed to acknowledge but she was horror struck and moved towards Leo as if he were the only person in the universe.

He met her gaze. It was like staring into the abyss. Before he could fall, she blinked and Leo leaned against _Serenity_ , steadying himself.

"He's special," River said. To Leo's surprise, her fingers danced in the air the way his own did. He found himself copying the gesture. "He sees beyond his era. He can exist outside of linear time."

Mal groaned and let out what sounded like a string of curses, though once again in the language Leo didn't understand. "Is this going to be another story about the man with the blue box?"

River gave him a sullen look. "No. And that did happen."

Mal held out his hands in surrender. "I trust you, little one. No matter how bizarre your stories are. So, this Leo?"

"Leonardo," River corrected and she held out her slim hand. Leo took it, both afraid and fascinated. He understood her the moment they touched. He felt pain and joy and experienced memories that were not his, and relived memories that were. He understood the ways they were the same and different, and how she had been born a genius as he had, but that her other talents had been forced upon her at great cost.

Only when he let go did he realise that he was crying, and that some of the sorrow he was feeling was River's grief for him.

"You know my future," Leo said huskily. The liquor threatened to make a reappearance and he worried it would burn worse on the way back up.

River nodded, sadness on her face. "You will be remembered," she said, as if offering comfort.

Mal cleared his throat. "Little one?"

River blinked, gathered herself. "He is from another time."

"From the past?" Mal was sceptical but not arguing. "He said he was from Earth-That-Was. I figured it was some sort of memory implant."

"No. It's true. He is Leonardo Da Vinci." She spoke his name with reverence. Mal shrugged. River rolled her eyes.

"Simon will lecture you later," she said and her voice sounded very far away. "He-"

Leo didn't hear what she said next, because his vision swam and during this distraction the floor came up to meet him. The last thing he did hear, as darkness swallowed him was, "Dammit River, you broke him!"

* * *

_Yeah, but she's our witch_

_I am the son of Earth and Starry Heaven_

_Just once I'd like things to go according to the gorram plan_

_Impossible is just a word that makes me try even harder_

_Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many_

_The whole point of progress is overreaching_

_People don't like to be meddled with_

_History is a lie, artista_

_I aim to misbehave_

_It appears our fates are tied_

_You can't take the sky from me_

* * *

Leo woke from the dream with a start, expecting a hangover, sunlight on his face, some sense of normality at least.

He was disappointed. There was no headache, at least, but there was no sunlight either.

"Easy there." Mal was sat at his side, and Leo closed his eyes again. He was still stuck in the future. The bizarre dream had been a strange mix of his past, River's past, Mal's past, and glimpses of his and Mal's futures that had already slipped from his mental grasp.

Leo opened his eyes, resigned to his fate for the time being, and took what pleasure he could in realising that he was now onboard _Serenity_. The room was small, the bunk tiny, but that was the way on sailing ships too, for the most part.

"We're flying," Leo said, drawing this conclusion from the subtle hum of the engines and some innate sense of movement deep inside him.

Mal nodded. "I've got cargo to deliver," he said apologetically. "And I figured you're as well off onboard as back at the station, if half of what River thinks is true."

"You don't seem concerned that she says I'm a time traveller." Was that his phrasing, or something he'd picked up from River? Leo couldn't tell.

"She's a little odd," Mal explained. "But she tends to be right." His tone suggested there were times this was inconvenient. "Besides, I've seen all manner of crazy things over the years. I'm sure there's a logical explanation, even if it's so full of scientific jargon I can't understand a word of it."

Mal was probably right about there being a logical explanation, though Leo was lost for one right now, and he was probably also right about it not mattering that they'd left the space station. Given that Leo had no way of knowing how he'd gotten aboard the station or how to get back, he was as likely to return home from onboard _Serenity_ as anywhere else. At least here he was with Mal, who, for reasons he didn't entirely understand, he trusted implicitly.

"Guess the whole time travel thing took its toll," Mal went on. "Doc said you're fine. A little dehydrated but he took care of that. He was little puzzled by your bloodwork though."

"My what?"

Mal moistened his lips. "He tested your blood, make sure you weren't sick. There were things he wasn't expecting – nothing too bad, mind – and there things missing that he was certain he'd find if you'd been born on most any of the planets we know of or had travelled on a ship for any length of time."

Leo sat up slowly, careful not to bang his head, and swung his feet to the floor. There was an almost undetectable vibration running through the floor. He felt less disorientated now and the rest had been good for him. "So your doctor believes there's some proof to what I say?"

"More or less. He gave you a few vaccinations too – drugs so that when you get home there are some illnesses you won't have to worry about catching. Including syphilis," Mal said with a wink.

Leo wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. Not getting sick was a good thing, but he wasn't sure how much he ought to trust the medicine of this time period. "Thank you," he said anyway.

Mal smiled. "We thought you'd feel calmer waking up here in a bunk rather than in the infirmary, but now you're finally awake, do you want to come to the bridge?" He laughed. "Of course you do. Come on, Leo. We're travelling through space. You want to see this."

* * *

Leo sat back in the co-captain's chair, unable to believe his eyes. Mal leaned on the back of the chair, a comforting presence, while River piloted the ship through what Mal called The Black.

All those nights he'd spent looking at the stars and now he was flying between them. Leo thought his mind would implode. So he didn't try to think about it too much, and focussed on how wonderful it was.

"We're heading to a planet called Highgate," Mal told him. "It's not much to look at, but I'm guessing you'll get a thrill from standing on another world."

Leo nodded. He asked a few questions about the ship and Mal explained to the best of his abilities, trying to phrase what he did know in a way that Leo could grasp.

"Simon wants to meet you," Mal said at last. "Let me go fetch him."

Simon. Through Mal's conversation and River's unspoken communication with his mind, Leo knew he was the ship's doctor and River's brother. A strong memory of gratitude persisted that belonged to River. Her brother had saved her and she could never repay him, not that Simon thought he needed any payment. Leo had no siblings that he knew of, but he loved Zo and Nico as brothers and he pushed the homesickness away before it could overwhelm him again.

"I'm sorry I broke you," River said at last.

"I don't think it was your fault."

"I overloaded you." Half-statement, half-question.

Leo shook his head. He didn't know. "I've never experienced anything like that before."

"Nor have I. In the past I have felt a bond with others like me. But with you it was different." River regarded him coolly. "You're not like me. Haven't been broken. Born like this."

She thought his talents were purely natural? Not so long ago, he would have agreed, but now Leo thought about the mystical Book of Leaves and wondered how much a part it had, or would, play in his life. If time were not linear, the possibilities were endless. He put that aside for the moment. He tackled something that had been bothering him. "I understand your language, but not the other tongue."

River considered. "It makes sense for a traveller to hear and to speak the most prevalent language of the people he's supposed to interact with," she said. "But you don't need to speak Mandarin, so you don't. It's only used in certain situations and on certain worlds."

"Swearing?" Leo guessed, recalling the context of Mal's usage of the strange words.

"It's very useful for that." The smile that spread across her face made her look younger and less unnerving.

A few moments later Simon came onto the bridge, slim and pale, with short dark hair and an enthusiasm that brought a smile to Leo's face.

"I still don't really believe it, but apparently you're Leonardo Da Vinci," Simon said, shaking Leo's hand enthusiastically. "Glad to meet you now you're conscious. I'm Dr Simon Tam. It's a pleasure. An honour."

"He probably needs that hand," Mal said, amused, from his place at the doorway. Simon let go, a flush of embarrassment painting his cheeks. He had a very expressive face, Leo thought, and lovely eye lashes.

"It's fine. I'm ambidextrous," Leo offered. It was weird to think that in the future people would remember his name and be thrilled to meet him. River's memories had been insistent that his ideas would echo through the centuries. It was both exhilarating and somewhat humbling. He pulled out his notebook and began sketching Simon and River as easily as he had Mal. The familiarity of drawing was soothing.

Simon leaned over his shoulder, watching. "That's amazing. Um, some of your notebooks have survived, even until today. The odd thing is that recently someone claimed to have found a book you wrote that had never been seen before. They call it the Lost Book of Leonardo."

"Yeah, that book they're selling that's supposedly worth more than a moon or two?" Mal's eyes lit up. "I thought that was a forgery. But if it's real it'd be worth stealing."

"There's some debate about its authenticity." Simon looked at Leo. "Is it true you have an eidetic memory?"

When Leo looked at him askance, Simon attempted to explain further, saying "Photographic…no, um, more like if you've seen something once…" and rambling for a good minute about the subject, complete with examples from a history that was still in Leo's future.

"Yes," Leo said, when politeness allowed him to intervene. He caught River giving him a wry smile at her brother's antics and pretended he hadn't.

"You'd remember the book then? We could show you the sample pages in the auction catalogue. You could tell us if it was real? Maybe even," and Simon hesitated as if about to broach a difficult subject, "recreate it?"

Leo nodded. Why not?

"No," River said.

"Why?" all three men asked at once.

"Because he hasn't written it yet," River told them. "I've seen the pages; they are from a time to come."

"You mean the book is written later in his lifetime?" Simon asked.

River sighed at his insistence on stating the obvious, and said firmly "He shouldn't see it."

"Why?" Leo asked, put out.

"Because it could destroy the time-space continuum." River spoke as if she were telling them the potatoes would burn if left too long but her words threatened a disaster beyond imagining. Simon blanched. Leo felt a chill run down his spine. River was somehow a kindred spirit but to be honest she creeped him out a little – maybe that was how others felt around him, a sobering thought. He preferred Mal's straight forwardness and easy going nature. It reminded him of Zo.

Mal sighed. "Well, we wouldn't want that," he said, adding some much needed levity to the situation. "So, any of you geniuses have any idea about getting Leo back home?"

They all shook their heads.

"Something like this has happened to me before," Leo said and explained about his lost time, concluding, "I think there's usually something I have to do before I can go home. Something to fix or learn or understand."

He had no idea what that might entail. Most people didn't believe man could or should fly, so taking back ideas about building vessels that could traverse the heavens was only going to add fuel to the fire of rumours regarding his sanity, or lack thereof.

Simon gave him a sympathetic look. "I hope we can find out what that it is." His eyes fell on River as he said, "It's hard to be without your family."


	3. Chapter 3

They landed at Highgate without incident and if it hadn't been for the astronomical irregularities visible in the twilight sky, Leo wouldn't have known he was on another planet. Their landing site looked like any farm he had ever visited. He picked up a fistful of dirt, wondering at how like Earth it all seemed despite the distance. He'd learned a little about terraforming on the journey, and it amazed him to think about it. On the other hand, what people had done was turn something alien and new into a copy of their own world, and there was something sad about that.

"What's that?" Leo asked, as Zoë and the mercenary, Jayne, unloaded a metal box. Zoë was keeping her distance, wary of him, but trusting Mal's judgement, and that was fine with Leo. Jayne had taken one look at Leo and dismissed him as not a threat, not a friend. To be fair, Leo had taken a similar view of Jayne regarding potential friendship.

"Cryo chamber," Mal said, keeping an eye on the buyer, who was keeping an eye on the unloading process. "Cryogenic…" He lapsed into Mandarin again, frustrated at his inability to explain it simply. He took a breath and began, talking about preserving a living body for long journeys through space, or until medical assistance could be obtained.

"That's impressive," Leo said, awestruck.

The buyer inspected the goods and paid up while Zoë and Jayne stood around looking menacing in case of non-payment. Mal looked to River who gave him an almost imperceptible nod. He shook hands with the buyer and they all went back onboard.

"Next we have to go pick up Kaylee and Inara," Mal said and Leo heard the happiness in his voice and guessed Mal had missed these people. He concentrated, hoping to glean the facts from the memories he'd inadvertently shared with River, and got a vague impression of a smiling woman who Simon loved, but almost nothing of the other. Leo tried to hone in on the information about Kaylee but to no avail. The knowledge was slipping from his grasp like sand through a timer. Leo thought he'd have to scribble down everything he'd learnt or lose it completely.

"You were interested in the cryo chamber." River had appeared at Leo's elbow, startling him.

"Yes. Medicine in my time is rudimentary compared to what your brother is capable of."

She tipped her head. "The Lost Book spoke of a great sorrow. Can time be rewritten? Must we follow it…or maybe we don't see what's written." She trailed off, her eyes glazed over momentarily, and then she stared at Leo. "You write in code."

It was more a statement than a question but Leo nodded. "Sometimes."

"River, get us off the ground," Mal ordered and she headed for the bridge. To Leo he said, "You hungry?" and, without waiting for a response, took Leo off to a dining area. Leo was gratified when Mal dished up fruit, bread, and cheese.

"Simon said you don’t eat meat," Mal said doubtfully, "or I'd have offered you the stew. I hope this is all right."

Leo assured him it was, wolfing down apple slices and grapes. "Thank you," he said, between bites. He wasn't sure when he'd last eaten. He wasn't sure how anyone could live on a spaceship, with its lack of daylight and, thereby, any real sense of time.

"Can I ask you why you took pity on me back at the station?" Leo asked, when his hunger was sated.

Mal leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. You looked like you needed help."

"A stray," Leo repeated, recalling Mal's words to River. She was a stray too, she and Simon, and Mal had made them crew. Made them family. The knowledge was warm in Leo's chest, though he still longed for his own home, his own friends.

Mal laughed. "I have a thing for geniuses."

Leo had a brief fantasy of stripping off Mal's clothes one by one and exploring every inch of his body before drawing him, naked. He wasn't sure exactly where Mal's sexual attractions lay though, and kept quiet.

"Why'd you let a smuggler drag you onto his ship?" Mal asked, deftly slicing an apple.

"You seemed like a friend," Leo said. "You didn't panic or turn me over to the authorities when I seemed out of place and out of my mind. You sat me down and brought me a drink."

Mal chewed, a thoughtful expression on his face. Apropos of nothing he said, "You have people you need to get back to."

Leo might have been imagining the regret in his voice, wanting Mal to want him. His own emotions were running high, making it difficult to concentrate. He found himself talking about Zo and his schemes – Mal enjoyed that, of course. It struck Leo as fitting that Mal had a Zoë to his Zoroaster. He talked about Nico, his beloved student, and Andreas, his beloved master. About Vanessa, once a nun – Mal, it turned out, had a story about a nun that was funnier and even naughtier than Leo's tale of "rescuing" Vanessa from the convent. Leo talked about Lucrezia, and the complicated relationship they had. About Lorenzo, about his father, about Riario, even. How all of these people were a part of his life, for better or worse.

Mal understood Leo's clash with Riario and the Church; he talked of his fight against the Alliance, who sought to control and oppress. Leo pieced this together with his rapidly fading impressions from River's mind. Simon had grown up a loyal Alliance citizen until he'd needed to save his sister and switched sides. It gave Leo some small hope that one day Riario might change sides, though he didn't think Riario had any siblings, no-one he cared for so deeply as to move him to such action. They were more alike than either cared to admit, the Count and the artista, and Riario would make a fine ally if he weren't so determined to be Leo's enemy.

Later, Simon showed him something called the Cortex, though allegedly with a lot of restrictions, lest Leo read something about himself. The only way Leo would later be able to describe it, even to himself, was that it was some sort of animated book, but with whole libraries worth of information accessible. Leo absorbed as much information as he could, hoping that by accessing it directly rather than through the odd connection he'd had with River, he might remember what he learnt.

After a few hours, Simon returned and pried Leo away from the Cortex, denying him a "few more minutes more". They went to the dining room where Mal and River were waiting. Leo felt a sense of foreboding and tried to back away, but Simon was behind him. Mal gave a gentle smile and gestured for Leo to sit, so he did.

"We've had a closer look at the sample pages of this supposed Lost Book of yours," Mal said. "River thinks she's cracked your code."

Leo was about to scoff that it was impossible before he caught River's eye and the words died in his throat. He coughed instead. "I'd like to see the material for myself."

"You can't," River said and he wanted to argue, but Leo was certain that Mal would take River's side, having more experience with her particular brand of genius, and it was no use getting into a fight he could not win.

Mal pushed a drink towards Leo and he swallowed it down. It didn't burn quite as much this time. Mal nodded with approval. "All right. The pages talk of a great sorrow, a terrible loss, and they talk about the dark days of your life. The book is supposed to be your final biography, written just months before your death."

Leo blinked. He toyed with the glass, wanting another drink. He resorted to sarcasm. "That's nice."

"The decoded text says something different," River told him. "Everything in the book, this version of history, is a lie."

_History is a lie_. Those words echoed across his mind again, chasing him wherever, whenever, he went. He shook his head as if to clear it.

"The book tells the truth as you wanted it to be known," River went on. "But the reality is different. Your life was – is – different. And the great loss was just the first great lie."

Mal poured Leo another drink. "We've talked about it. Came up with a plan. We can't give you a cryo chamber, but maybe we can give you something else."

River passed over a small pouch. It looked like leather but it didn't have the same smell or texture when Leo took it in his hand and rubbed at the smooth surface. River showed him how to open it to reveal the two sharp instruments inside.

"This one," she said, pointing with a delicate finger. "It will mimic death. Even if there is a grievous injury, it will cause a," and she paused. "If I say magical sleep you will ask about science."

"Yes."

"A deep sleep, then. Comatose. Slide the needle into any vein and press the plunger down. Use all of the liquid. Whoever it is used it on will sleep as if dead. No physician in your time will be able to tell the difference."

Leo met her steady gaze. "I suppose I can think of a few instances that might be useful." Use it on himself as a last desperate attempt at a prison break. Or during a battle, on himself or someone else. The best alternative they could offer him to a cryo chamber to keep an injured victim alive. A great loss, they kept saying, the words like a knife to his heart. A loss he might yet prevent.

"How long does it last, this sleep?"

"Permanently," Simon said, startling him. He took the seat next to Leo. "You must reverse it using the second vial within three days – 72 hours. You must thrust the needle directly into the heart." He put the knuckles of one fist against Leo's chest as if to impress the seriousness of this on him.

"If I don't?"

"Death, for real," River said. "Remember, 72 hours. No more."

"I'm supposed to use this to save someone?"

Mal cleared his throat. "We can't tell you. To be fair, even if the book gives exact instructions, they're written on the next page. Which we don’t have. Until we steal the book."

" _Unless_ we steal it," Simon said, but such a weary air that Leo recognised that Simon knew a losing battle when he saw it too.

"Leo's our guest," Mal argued. "If anyone has a right to the book it's him."

"Except you won't let me see it!"

Mal brushed this off. "And if he can't see it, then surely the duty falls to us to keep it out of the wrong hands."

By many measures, Mal was the wrong hands, but Leo didn't care. He pointed to each vial in turn, repeating the information he'd been given to show he understood.

"What if this doesn't travel back with me?" Leo asked. Everything in his pockets had stayed with him on the journey here, but the nature of what River casually called the time-space continuum meant that might not apply on the return home.

Mal grinned. "We thought of that too. Take out your notebook. The other two geniuses are going to dictate the chemical compounds of the vials to you. They might not make sense now, but hopefully you'll have a while to figure it out."

River nodded. "You are a genius," she said. "If anyone in your time period can recreate the serums it is you."

"We've looked up what information there is about Earth-That-Was," Simon said. "We'll give you some possible sources of some of the more unusual elements."

Leo's hands and mind worked overtime as he was instructed in chemistry and biology, sketching out the needles and the nature of the compounds they were supposed to inject, making notes in his book to help fix the detail in his mind. When he was done, he put away his notebook and closed the pouch, slipping it into one pocket.

"Thank you," he said. "I suppose I'll know, when it's time to use the drugs. I already did it once, if the so-called lost book is real."

Mal nodded. "I'm sure you will." He held out one hand and Leo shook it.

"If we're right, you should travel back soon," River said. "You have what you needed."

Leo opened his mouth to reply –

* * *

"Leo."

He sat up, disorientated. He was back in the tavern, back in the present. Vanessa was wiping the table around him, and now took his tankard.

"You've been sleeping for hours. I was starting to worry." She gave him a look, part concern, part exasperation.

"Sorry." Leo's hand went to his pocket. His fingers felt the smooth material of the pouch and he gave a sigh of relief. He'd use the information he'd written down, the facts of which were also in his head, to try and create more of the drugs, just in case. But having the genuine article was, as far as he could make out, essential to his future self, or at least his future self's happiness.

Vanessa continued to tidy up, wiping tables and moving chairs. Leo stared into the fire, glad to be home, but with a surprising regret at losing both his connection to River, and Mal's easy friendship. He hadn't even had chance to say farewell. He hoped he would see them again, somehow.

When he wrote his book – and he'd already determined that he had to write the coded Book of Leonardo – he'd make sure to leave them a message, a hello from his past self. Maybe he already had done that too, told them how to proceed, told them not to let Leonardo see the pages when they met him, lest he upset his own destiny.

It was confusing to think about, given how tired he still was. Leo leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, trying to fix in his mind the amazement of sailing through the stars. Tomorrow he could begin the book, tomorrow he could start gathering supplies for his new experiments, or sketching starships, or making plans to prevent the great loss. For now he was home and content. For now he wanted to imprint as many of the memoires he could in his mind, of the future, of _Serenity_ , and of the dashing space captain who'd proven to be a true friend.


End file.
